MURRIETA: Area residents urge passage of E-Verify

Murrieta City Council considers whether to implement law

About 30 people from cities throughout Riverside County wearing
red, white and blue blouses and hair ribbons urged the Murrieta
City Council on Tuesday to force all businesses in the city to use
E-Verify on their employees.

Council members had not yet decided by 9:30 p.m. whether to
accept city staff members' recommendation to adopt a resolution
encouraging businesses to use E-Verify. Some residents have gone
from one city to another in the region touting the need to require
businesses to use E-Verify.

Council members were discussing the ramifications of adopting a
law to require E-Verify when the U.S. Supreme Court is weighing the
legality of similar attempts in Oklahoma and Arizona. They also
discussed issues regarding enforcement of the proposed law.

City administrators have recommended the council put off
adopting such an ordinance until after the U.S. Supreme Court
weighs two appeals of anti-illegal immigration laws passed in
Arizona and Oklahoma that required all businesses to use E-Verify.
District appellate courts in each state upheld various aspects of
the laws but struck down others, leading the federal Supreme Court
to indicate it will review the laws.

Currently, all United States employers are required to file
paperwork to validate a prospective employee's eligibility to work
in the country. The E-Verify system is a free, online system
offered by the Department of Homeland Security that can be used in
conjunction with that paperwork obligation already imposed on
employers.

But residents who expressed anger at the federal government for
failing to address illegal immigration and frustration over high
unemployment say they want cities throughout the region to require
all businesses to use E-Verify.

"As a mom I can tell you people need a push, voluntary doesn't
always work," said Shellie Milne, a Winchester resident.

Some who spoke during the public hearing held back tears as they
expressed their fears about their children growing up in a world in
which they would have few employment opportunities.

Others alleged the federal government is "waging war" by
stripping states' rights to enforce federal laws at a local
level.

And others told stories of their ancestors who immigrated to the
United States through the proper channels, or who crossed illegally
but have since naturalized as citizens, as a measure of who has a
right to work in the country.

"My mom and dad had to wait six years before they could come
into this country. They endured the hardships with little money, no
(government) assistance or care, just hard work," said Peter
Maroosis of Menifee. "But a city can take a stance."

However, Rex Oliver of the Murrieta Chamber of Commerce said he
agreed with the recommendation that a law should be imposed once
all questions of its legality are answered.

"Enforcement is going to be the most important part of the
process," Oliver said.

Temecula, Menifee and Lake Elsinore have adopted ordinances
requiring the use of E-Verify, but vary in their approaches to
enforcement. Canyon Lake officials are still weighing the
desirability of the program and its legal implications.